RT by @mikenov: RT by @mikenov: 🇺🇦🇷🇺 Could Ukraine actually take back the land Russia seized at the start of the war? As crazy as that might sound to a lot of people right now, it is still a fair question. While Russian forces tighten the noose around Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the last major Ukrainian fortress cities in Donetsk, a quieter issue is gaining weight: if Kyiv can stabilize or reverse the current pressure, is a genuine recovery of earlier lost territory still possible? Those 2 cities have been fortified for years. Roads, rail lines, command posts and ammunition depots all run through them. Russian units are now within a few kilometers and already hitting them with heavy glide

🇺🇦🇷🇺 Could Ukraine actually take back the land Russia seized at the start of the war?

As crazy as that might sound to a lot of people right now, it is still a fair question.

While Russian forces tighten the noose around Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, the last major Ukrainian fortress cities in Donetsk, a quieter issue is gaining weight: if Kyiv can stabilize or reverse the current pressure, is a genuine recovery of earlier lost territory still possible?

Those 2 cities have been fortified for years.

Roads, rail lines, command posts and ammunition depots all run through them.

Russian units are now within a few kilometers and already hitting them with heavy glide bombs and drones.

If they fall, Moscow would finish its formal claim on Donetsk and gain a clearer path into the flatter ground that leads west.

That would be a heavy military and political blow, and yet the wider front is not one-directional.

Ukraine’s 2026 counteroffensive has already produced net territorial gains in parts of the east and south for the first time in years.

Manpower shortages, logistics strain and the sheer depth of Russian defensive lines still make a large-scale reconquest of 2022 losses extremely difficult.

But the fact that Ukrainian forces are again taking ground in some sectors shows the war has not settled into pure attrition.

The battle for Sloviansk and Kramatorsk will decide whether Ukraine can keep any meaningful foothold in Donetsk.

What happens after that will decide whether the early Russian gains remain permanent or become negotiable again.

Source:  @WeTheBrandon  Substack / Writer: Lucas

— @MarioNawfal Aug 7, 2026